Saturday, June 30, 2012

Sarde in Saor

The last time I featured white onions it was for a dish from my mother's region, Emiglia-Romagna, called Friggione. This time I'm making a dish from my father's region, Veneto, called Sarde in Saor - sweet/sour pickled Sardines.

From humble beginnings as a way for fishermen to preserve fish for long sea journeys, it's now a much loved favourite of the region where you'll find it commonly served as "cicheti".

The main ingredient is fresh sardines, you may be able to buy them filleted or whole like these.

If you've bought them whole, you going to have to remove the head, gut them and then remove the spine, leaving the tail in place.

Once they have been cleaned, dust them in flour, season with sea salt and then quickly fry them off in a little oil. Place the sardines on paper towels to remove any excess oil.

Pour a generous glug of oil into a pan and cook the onions very slowly until they have softened but not coloured - aim for about 20 to 30 minutes. Increase the heat and pour in the vinegar along with the sultanas and pinenuts. Cook this for a couple of minutes and then remove from the heat.

Use a terracotta or heat resistant bowl and arrange a little of the onions on the base of the dish. Cover this with a layer of sardines, followed by more of the onion mixture - depending on the size of the container, repeat the process ending with onions. Finish off by pouring over any remaining liquid. Seal and store in the fridge overnight.

6 comments:

I love the photo of the sardines! And I like how you served the sarde in saor. This is one of the dishes that represent Italian traditional cuisine at its best: simple and full of flavor. Have a nice weekend.